Posts

Carlsbad Aquafarms Gets Grant for Living Shoreline Project

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

The Carlsbad Aquafarm has been allocated a $230,000 grant to install and monitor native oyster reefs and eelgrass meadows along the shore of Agua Hedionda Lagoon near the strawberry fields, the Carlsbad desalination plant and the Encina power plant.

Oysters and mussels have been grown commercially in the outer lagoon since the 1950s, when San Diego Gas & Electric Co. dredged it to make it deeper and provide a constant source of seawater to cool the power plant.

Full Story

Poseidon Desal Plant in Carlsbad Needs $159M Upgrade. Ratepayers Will Foot the Bill

/in , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Joshua Emerson Smith Quoted: San Diego County Water Authority

The Poseidon desalination plant in Carlsbad — by far the San Diego region’s most expensive supply of water — is about to get even more costly.

Under pressure from state environmental regulators, the company is now scrambling to complete an estimated $159-million overhaul of its system for pulling ocean water from the Agua Hedionda Lagoon up to its $1-billion reverse-osmosis facility perched atop a nearby hill.

Full Story

Carlsbad Extends Deadline for Power Plant Demolition

/in , , /by /The San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

The power company NRG will need a few extra months to demolish the old Encina Power Station on Carlsbad Boulevard, but the work will start on schedule and there’s no chance of preserving the plant’s signature seaside smokestack, officials said.

The Carlsbad City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved an extension of up to nine months to complete the demolition. Under an agreement NRG signed with the city in 2014, work was required to begin this December and be finished in two years.

Full Story

Man Pushes Preservation of 400-foot-tall Coastal Smokestack

/in , , /by /San Diego Union-Tribuneby Phil Diehl

Icon or eyesore? The perception of Carlsbad’s 400-foot-tall coastal smokestack is in the eye of the beholder. The old chimney, a concrete exclamation point in the sky, soon could be gone. Demolition of the Encina power plant is scheduled to begin by the end of this year, after a new, more efficient plant built at the rear of the Carlsbad Boulevard property, north of Cannon Road, replaced it last December.

Full Story